PANJIM: Giving in to the demands of the villagers, the State
government has moved a proposal to take up the Chorao bridge under the Bharat
Mala project of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
Under the Bharat Mala project in Goa the Centre through
MoRTH, will take up road network work of 250 kilometers from Pernem to Cancona
in coastal areas. “These roads will include the major district roads between
Pernem and Canacona, which is around 250 kilometers,” PWD Principal Chief Engineer
Ulhas Parsekar told Herald. He said that for this the Centre will spend Rs 250
cr.
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“Since there was a demand for Chorao bridge we have decided
to take it up under the Bharat mala project of the Centre,” Parsekar added. He
said the State will now call for tenders for consultancy of the entire project.
“The consultants will then prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) from there
it would move forward,” he said.
Earlier this year the United Citizens of Chorao held a
dharna in support of their demand for a bridge linking Chorao with Ribandar.
Villagers said that in the absence of a bridge, the
residents face multiple problems – water scarcity, power interruptions, and
emergency healthcare. Many have died on the way to hospital. College/school
students and office goers are highly inconvenienced.
Under the ambitious ‘Bharat Mala’ project the central
government will construct some 5,300 km of new roads at an estimated cost of
about Rs 12,000-14,000 crore covering the entire west-to-east border from
Mizoram to Gujarat.
The planned road network will be further linked to a road
network in coastal states, from Goa, Maharashtra to Bengal similar to a garland
around the country. Bharat Mala will bring the North-East into the mainstream
of the country, connecting it to the country’s main road network.
